Jul 31, 2011

Twenty years ago today, Harry Potter was lying on the floor of an old lighthouse, counting down the minutes to his eleventh birthday, when the magic began. Today, millions of his fans worldwide are eagerly counting down the minutes to midnight, when the magic will begin again. For all of us.

We potterheads will always remember when we crashed Pottermore before it even started.

(In the meantime, we keep waiting for something to happen at pottermore.com...)

Imagine waking up one day in total darkness, unsure of where you are and unable to remember anything about yourself except your first name. You're in a bizarre place devoid of adults called the Glade. The Glade is an enclosed structure with a jail, a graveyard, a slaughterhouse, living quarters, and gardens. And no way out. Outside the Glade is the Maze, and every day some of the kids -- the Runners -- venture into the labyrinth, trying to map the ever-changing pattern of walls in an attempt to find an exit from this hellish place. So far, no one has figured it out. And not all of the Runners return from their daily exertions, victims of the maniacal Grievers, part animal, part mechanical killing machines.
Thomas is the newest arrival to the Glade in this Truman-meets-Lord of the Flies tale. A motley crew of half a dozen kids is all he has to guide him in this strange world. As soon as he arrives, unusual things begin to happen, and the others grow suspicious of him. Though the Maze seems somehow familiar to Thomas, he's unable to make sense of the place, despite his extraordinary abilities as a Runner. What is this place, anddoes Thomas hold the key to finding a way out?
In The Maze Runner, Dashner has crafted a creative and engaging novel that's both mysterious and thought provoking.

My Opinion:

I'd read a lot about this book, some really good reviews, and it had always been on top of my TBR list. So when I saw it in my local bookstore, I knew I had to buy it. Not that many American books find their way to Latin America, so I was really happy to find this one.

Cover of my/Latin American edition.

And it did not disappoint! What an awesome first-book-in-a-series! It left me aching for more!

I missed the buzz over this book when it was first published, so I'm not going to make this a long review, as I imagine you may have read a lot of reviews already, but I am going to say this: I saw The Scorch Trials in my bookstore, and I'm getting it when I have money (lol).

I can't remember ever reading a book about a Maze, this one was something fresh. Every chapter ended leaving you more confused and with more questions than before, and I can definitely see why some people compare it to Lost. It has that mysterious air that the TV show had, and that I loved. I can definitely see myself becoming a fan of this trilogy.

Another thing that suprised me in a wonderful way, was the fact that James wrote a book where teenage (this is a crucial fact) boys are capable of working and living in a very well crafted community. Yes, they got help from the "Makers" (? - I read the book in Spanish, so I don't know the term in English), the people who put them there, but in the end it was up to them to get things done. Eventually, the girl who arrived at the Glade also participates, but the boys are the ones who've built up everything before she got there.

Why do I like this? Because it shows teenagers can do more than care for trivial matters! Leaving aside the fact that this is a Sci-Fi, these boys worked hard not to let anguish and pain bring them down. So, kudos to Dashner, Thomas and the Gladers!

This book is full of fast-paced action, suspense, mystery and some laughs thrown in there too. I highly recommend this is you still haven't read it!

Clara's relationship with Christian is intense from the start, and like nothing she’s ever experienced before. But what starts as devotion quickly becomes obsession, and it's almost too late before Clara realizes how far gone Christian is—and what he's willing to do to make her stay.

Now Clara has left the city—and Christian—behind. No one back home has any idea where she is, but she still struggles to shake off her fear. She knows Christian won't let her go that easily, and that no matter how far she runs, it may not be far enough...

My Opinion:

For my first Caletti book, it was awe-some. It had drama, it had love, it had strange relationships... everything you can ask for in a Contemp!

The way Deb created Clara -at first a shy girl, who becomes someone new with Christian around- was incredibly belieable. I could really see her, hurt and broken, trying to find herself again in that little place on the beach, where she and her father go to escape from the city. Every one of her decisions made sense, once you got to "know" her, which helped me understand her throughout the whole book, and made me want to grab her off the pages and keep her safe myself! She was a really grounded person, and I loved watching her grow.

The rest of the characters was brilliant as well. Her father, and his secrets; her best friend and her personality, Christian and his... he was really well written too, crazy as hell, but a great character, plot-wise.

I loved this book so much, I can't wait to read some other Caletti book!

If you're looking for an intense Contemporary book, then run to the book store and get this one!

Jul 24, 2011

...where (I have no idea where I was) but J. K. Rowling was giving me a book (it was her in person, I saw her), bound like my copy of Deathly Hallows from Bloomsbury, but when I opened it, it had all the 10.000-ish exclusive words she's about to release in Pottermore. And it was brilliant.

Jul 15, 2011

Yesterday, Hollywood Crush revealed Tahereh Mafi's (I still don't know how to pronounce her name!) debut book's cover! And it is quite stunning! Take a look:

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old-girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel. (from Goodreads)

Isn't that an awesome cover! And the summary, so cool. A mix of dystopia and paranormal. Something fresh and interesting, can't wait!

Story behind it: I'm a Harry Potter fan, always have been, always will be. So of course my first tattoo had to be HP-releated. I love Hermione, she's my favourite female character, so when thinking about what I was going to get, I started googling and this pic came up, and I just fell in love with it:

Love this tat. It must have really hurt!

So, I knew I had to get Hermione's wand tattooed. And then I had the idea to put my brothers in there too; since we all love HP, and I love all three of them (HP's world and my two little brothers) it made perfect sense to me.

I am in love with my forearm. We've been dating for the past two months, and I think I'm ready to make a serious commitment with it, you guys.

This is my first (of many) tattoos. I already know what I'm getting next, and have started saving for it. But I have to wait to get it done, to let the shock of this one wear off of my parents' minds! I'm aiming for a sleeved arm... maybe I'll get there with the years.